Passengers: The Plague of Avalon (Alternative Ending)
by RedBanker42
Summary: *SPOILERS* This work takes a different direction after Jim goes out into space to save the ship. What would have happened if he did not survive? Would Aurora be in the same dilemma as Jim? Should she wake another passenger? Or will she be able to make it a lifetime on her own? Find out in this Alternative Ending of Passengers.
1. Chapter 1

**The Loss**

Aurora tried the to call Jim again over the radio.

"Jim," She called, half crying, half screaming, "are you there?"

The blast had just launched Jim into space. He was going to float off beyond reach in just a matter of a few minutes. Aurora Lane had never felt such pressure before: his life depended on what she did in the next few moments.

"I'm coming for you, Jim." She took off sprinting.

She didn't care if he could hear her or not. It was more of a reassurance to herself. Aurora had to save him. If she didn't…

No, there wasn't time to think of the alternative. She was going to save him.

Aurora's fast footsteps echoed throughout the metallic corridors as she sprinted to the room with the space suits. She was grateful that she spent the time jogging across the ship over the past year. This would be a true test of her strength and endurance. Could she reach Jim in time?

She shot through the door like a bullet and went straight for the second suit. Her nervous hands made it difficult to get the contraption on. Aurora cursed at herself as she fumbled with the equipment.

 _This is taking too long,_ she thought as she donned the gear.

Before she even finished strapping it all on, she headed for the air lock. The first set of doors opened with a whirr. She had a sudden moment of Déjà vu, when she had come through here the first time. Jim had been there, and though she was nervous, she could trust him…

Could he trust her to save him now?

"I'm coming, Jim," she said again into her earpiece.

Still no response.

 _Please be alive._

She strapped on the rest of the suit as she started the protocol to open the outer doors. The vacuum of space took what little air was in the compartment in a heartbeat. The doors moved much too slow for her. Aurora wished she could be that air and just get out into space.

Before the doors were completely open, she was through.

In chaos of racing thoughts, she remembered to double check her lifeline to make sure she was attached to the ship. After one pull, she was satisfied that she was safe.

Scanning the debris, and with the help of her helmet's computer system, she was able to lock in on Jim's location. He was several meters directly in front of her.

Aurora released her mag boots and went sailing out into space.

"I'm here, Jim!" she said as the gap between them closed. Aurora knew that his air had to be venting to space, but he still should have had time.

She pushed all thoughts of failing away as she sailed closer to Jim, arms outstretched to grab him. Her heart warmed as she approached him, his whole body now in full view. They were close now…she was almost there…

Just as she was about to grab him, the lifeline tugged at her suit. Aurora could go no further.

She finally had a visual on Jim, and she could see clearly through his helmet. He was alive, but gasping for air. It was no wonder why he did not respond before: all he could do was focus on getting in what little breaths he could. His skin had grown pale from the lack of oxygen. Had he not been shaking from the cold, Aurora would have thought he looked like a corpse.

Gathering what strength she had left, Aurora stretched as far as the suit allowed. Her fingertips were within inches of Jim's arm. Yet, it was not enough. The longer she struggled, the further he got from her.

In utter despair, Aurora watched as the life was sucked from Jim. Every gasp from him sent shocks of pain to her heart. The man she loved more than anything would be taken from her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Jim's momentum caused him to spin, and she could no longer see his face. He was far beyond her reach now.

The only thing she could think to do was to release the lifeline and keep going. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she looked over her suit for the controls. Aurora fumbled with every button and command available, but it was to no avail. It was against safety protocol to release the lifeline.

 _I can cut it._

Aurora looked around, searching for any debris from the explosion sharp enough to cut the line. Anything that looked like it would work was out of her reach.

There was no hope.

Aurora finally accepted her defeat and wept as she watched James Preston vanish out of sight, and out of her life forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Sorrow**

Aurora had just stayed there, weeping in the great emptiness of space for some time. Jim had long been out of view and her helmet was screaming with warnings of low oxygen levels. She had ignored the first twenty warnings, caught up in her own helplessness. Before she could even respond to the messages, the lifeline started to tug and pull, wheeling her back towards the ship.

Had she still had her full sanity, the tug would have scared her, but she didn't care. She wanted Jim back. She wanted a second chance to try and save him. Aurora was deadweight as the line continued to pull her to safety.

Once the ship was back within range, her mag boots automatically reactivated, forcing her back on the platform outside of the airlock. Aurora finally ceded to the computer's will when she had to gasp get a good breath of air. She moved slowly into the airlock and let the doors close behind her.

When getting out into space seemed to have taken an eternity, getting back inside took no time at all. The room re-pressurized and the inner doors were open once more before Aurora could even take her helmet off.

She stripped out of the bulky suit. Once it was off, she had no goal, no plan, no future. She dropped to the floor. She lay there on the cool, metallic ground and wept more.

Her beloved was lost forever and she was now alone on this monstrous ship to die before ever reaching the new world. Aurora thought back to the first moment she woke from hibernation, how after Jim had explained everything to her, her dreams evaporated. The despair seemed unbearable at the time, but this…this was much worse. Not only had she lost her beloved, but her new dream of spending her life with him.

Yes, she had been angry with him for lying to her, but he still meant the world to her, and she would have forgiven him eventually. The fact that she risked her life to try and save him just now only proves that.

She stayed in that position for what seemed like days, but there was no way of knowing.

It took everything in her to find the resolve to finally stand.

 _I need to write,_ she thought.

And with that, she left for her room, grateful for the solitude she now had forever so that she could be alone with her thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Struggle**

Aurora wrote for days on end, only stopping to use the facilities and to eat sparingly. She wrote about all of her adventures with Jim and how she had felt more alive than ever before when she was with him. She wrote of the tragic moment when she found out that he had sentenced her to death upon this ship. Aurora yearned for that moment yet again: she would rather be angry with Jim alive than…than this.

She wrote of how she felt now.

Hopeless.

Alone.

Just as it had done in her youth, writing seemed to keep the darkness at bay. But how long could it last?

The thought struck her. Could she survive from writing alone?

Aurora put her tablet down. In all her life, what she learned from observing the world was that people – truly happy people – had others in their life that they could rely on. How was she to survive life alone?

"I need to get out of here," Aurora said aloud.

She shot up out of her chair and headed up to the bar. Arthur the android could talk some sense into her.

As she approached the bar, she remembered that Arthur had shut down during the accident. His body was bent over in an odd manner, almost as if he was dead and all that remained was his mangled corpse.

Jim would have known how to fix him.

Aurora took a look at the android, trying to remember through past conversations with Jim about how it functioned. She gave him a once-over, attempting to limit how much permanent damage she was doing to the robot.

Her efforts were to no avail. She could not fix him.

The one companion who could hold a civilized conversation with her was broken and she had no way of bringing him back.

Aurora fell to the ground, but tears never came. She had cried so much for Jim that she had nothing left.

She sat there on the ground in a catatonic state for some time. The reality of her predicament entirely overcame her.

Aurora Lane was alone and sentenced to die without any human contact.

This was hell. Oh, how she wished the pod had malfunctioned when Jim tried to wake her. How she wished it would have kept her asleep or even killed her then and there.

 _I'm stronger than this,_ she thought. _It's better to have loved Jim and lost him than never have known him at all…_

She thought it. But did she believe it?

Aurora headed back to her room, ready for sleep to take her. That's all she could do. That's all she'll ever be able to do.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Contemplation**

Weeks passed, followed by months. Aurora Lane did her best to stay alive – physically and mentally. There had been moments when she was tempted just to end it all; one time in particular she caught herself at Avalon's pharmacy, looking for anti-depressants. She had found them, large bottle in her hand, and the thought struck out of nowhere.

 _I could take all of these and no one could stop me. I wouldn't even know how to save myself._

Aurora, appalled by such a thought, quickly put the bottle back on the shelf. From that day forward, she resigned herself to only using natural methods of relieving depression – exercise and writing. When she wasn't sprinting down the ship end to end, then she was trying her hand at something new – writing fictional stories.

She never thought she was creative enough to write fiction. Aurora had always been a fan of the truth and what's going on in the real world. Fiction felt like an escape, or a drug, and she never dared tried it. Until now.

The writer started ten stories, then twenty. Eventually, she started over one hundred first chapters, but she could never finish them. Her perfectionist tendencies prevented her from doing so. She would write a character and then second guess if his or her actions were contrary to the personality. At one point she grew so frustrated, she let the tablet fly across the room. It shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.

Fiction was not for her.

Aurora set off on a quest for a new tablet. It was a big ship and she was bound to find one eventually. She knew that Jim had one in his room, but she couldn't go there. No, it was far too soon.

As she walked down the corridor past the luxury apartments, another thought jumped into her mind.

 _I could wake someone else up._

Aurora was just as appalled at this thought as she was about the pills. It made her stop in her tracks in the corridor. She had been so angry with Jim for ruining her life before, how could she begin to think about doing the same to another?

 _They were going to die anyway if we didn't save them._

This time, there was no physical bottle to put back on the shelf. She was stuck with the thoughts, and she tried to fight them as they came. It didn't matter if the other passengers were going to die before, they're alive now and they'll make it now. It would be immoral to wake someone else up.

 _Just one person. For company._

"No!" Aurora screamed as she ran down the hallway, back towards her room. She shut herself in, ran to the bed, and dived in, holding a pillow over her head as if it created a barrier to keep the thoughts at bay.

She yearned for sleep to come and silence her thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Fight**

As soon as she awoke, Aurora's thoughts came back to waking up another human being.

 _Jim did it, and I love him – he's not a bad person, he just fell in love with me._

"But I gave him so much grief about it," she said aloud. "It almost destroyed me. I'll most likely destroy someone else's life."

 _It would just be one. And they would have died anyway._

"Regardless, they are alive now."

 _I can't survive on my own and I don't have the will to end my life now. There is only one choice._

"NO!" Aurora shouted to her dark thoughts, "I will survive. On my own."

 _But for how long?_

She pushed the thoughts away with effort and got out of bed. Aurora thought it best to put herself on a routine. That would be the only way to combat cabin fever. She did as any person on earth would do – went for a run, took a shower, got dressed, and went down for breakfast. After breakfast, she read one of her favorite authors, envious of how fiction came so easily to him. In no time, she was ready for lunch, and then back to reading. More reading, more jogging, dinner, more reading, bed.

 _How many times have I done this?_ She thought to herself as she lay in bed. _How many times will I do this?_

Her ponderings only opened the door for the other thoughts to return.

 _Having someone else will make life exciting again._

She was too tired to argue with the voice in her head. Aurora rolled over and went to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Nostalgia**

More months passed until finally a year had gone by since Jim had died.

"Only 87 more years 'til we reach Homestead II," Aurora said to herself when she realized it was an anniversary.

 _It's time._

Day in and day out of doing the same things over and over again, Aurora finally succumbed to visiting Jim's room. She was hoping that a year was sufficient for the wounds to heal. Even if she wasn't over his death, even the pain would be a good distraction from the monotony.

She walked down the corridor of the "slums," as she called them when they were describing the ship. It was where the lower-paying customers of Avalon were staying, including Jim. Aurora stood outside the metallic door and took a deep breath.

 _I can do this._

Before she could have another thought of hesitation, Aurora swiped her bracelet over the scanner. Jim had added her as a permanent guest in his cabin, so the doors flew open for her, welcoming her into his room.

The sight before her made her smirk.

Clothes were strewn upon the floor and bed. Jim's tooth brush, toothpaste, hair gel, and shaving cream can were haphazardly placed on his sink. Or rather, near the sink. The toilet lid and seat were up.

"Typical Jim," Aurora said. And in an instant, her smirk was gone.

She remembered nagging him tremendously about his nasty habits, begging him to clean up after himself.

Aurora would do anything to be able to nag at him again.

Her heart started to ache, but she pushed forward. She wanted to see the rest of Jim's room. They only knew each other for a year: there was still so much to learn about the man, and she had been robbed of a lifetime with him.

She ran her fingers over his clothes on the bed, yearning for the warm body they once adorned. The flashback came like a lightning strike to her mind: Jim was just out of her reach, and she was helpless to save him.

These tragic images made Aurora's knees buckle, and she sank to the floor. Her wounds were still wide open, still grieving the loss of her dream.

When she gained her composure, she looked up and noticed that the bedside table drawer was cracked open. Aurora had noticed it before, but attributed it to Jim's untidy decorating style. Upon closer inspection revealed that there were books inside the drawer.

She opened the drawer up slowly and found manuals for systems all over the ship. The bottom of the stack revealed a manual for the structure and mechanical system of the pods.

 _This is how he knew._

Waves of contradictory emotions came over Aurora. Hatred, amusement, awe, sorrow…all of these and more washed over her like a tidal wave. After several minutes, only one clear thought rang through the chaos, crystal clear.

 _This is how I can learn._


	7. Chapter 7

**The Temptation**

Aurora could have sworn she blacked out. She didn't remember going down into the hold where rows and rows of passengers lay, sleeping in their seemingly eternal hibernation. She came-to by her own pod, open wide and deceptively inviting.

She had a manual open to a page describing the mechanical trays of each pod and which circuit board did was responsible for each function. Aurora looked around in horror and saw that she had brought Jim's toolbox with her as well.

Aurora was teaching herself how to wake someone up.

Realizing what she was doing, Aurora stood up quickly and began walking away from the scene. She only made it a few paces when she was overcome with nausea. Stumbling, falling, and now on her knees, Aurora vomited what little food she had that day.

"No, I can't do this!" she wept. "I won't do this!"

She collapsed entirely onto the floor, her face nearly missing what once was the contents of her stomach. All she could do was lay there and tremble with fear. Would she give in to temptation?

 _I need someone else. Jim needed me, that's why he woke me up. Now, I need someone._

"I AM NOT A MURDERER!" she screamed between sobs.

 _Neither was Jim._

"I need someone to talk to…" Aurora sobbed. "If only I had Arthur."

Before she could succumb to the dark thoughts once more, she left the hold, heading back to her room. Just as she had placed the pills back on the shelf to avoid making a poor decision, she made a mental note to avoid that hold, those books, and those tools for as long as she could.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Plan**

More time had passed. Days melted into weeks, and weeks into months. Aurora gave up on keeping a routine to keep her sane. She was long past sane.

The writer inside her thought it best to just write down her thoughts, the old-fashioned way. Aurora riffled through her belongings and found a bound journal with blank paper. It had been one of the few paper products left on earth, and she paid a substantial sum to get ahold of it. She had been saving it for her adventures on Homestead II, hoping to journal her experiences in the moment to make them more authentic. After Jim had taken that from her, there was no purpose for the notebook.

Until now.

Aurora journaled all her thoughts in the notebook, the dark ones and the moral ones alike. She saw the inner arguments she had with herself in action, continuous back and forth upon the paper. She wrote down quotes from famous scholars, philosophers, and even her own father on the pages in the hopes that this would create the illusion that someone was talking some sense into her.

What she found was that she was quoting arguments for both sides. And the side for having human companionship had overwhelming support.

Aurora read and re-read her notes over again, trying to find a loophole or tell-all solution for both her loneliness and moral dilemma.

 _Is this what Jim went through?_ She thought.

No, Jim was planning to wake a specific person whom he had researched and fell in love with. Aurora just wanted someone, anyone, to keep her company.

Aurora flipped through the now full journal to find an empty space to write on. As big as she could fit, she wrote: "AM I CRAZY?"

With enough logical arguments to state that she should not be alone, Aurora decided that she had to at least consider it as an option.

She would play the game and entertain the notion, even if she decided against it later. Perhaps putting a face to the person and reading about them would put a stop to her temptation.

The plan was to go down to the hold the next day, pick a person, thoroughly research him or her. She would get to know her…victim.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Selection**

Aurora was disgusted with herself every step of the way. She pushed forward, thinking the disgust was a good sign. There was little chance she would go through with this dark plan, and after researching a potential companion, the chances would be slimmer still.

As she walked passed every pod, she had the haunting thought that she was shopping. Her mind went to the books she read about nineteenth century America, where slaves were purchased and then abused for the rest of their lives. Was she selecting a slave right now? Would the person be forever hers to manipulate and control?

She shook her head at the thought. Aurora reassured herself that this was only a way to deter her from going through with it. She wasn't "shopping."

Each pod held within it a sleeping soul, awaiting a new life beyond this journey. Is this what so many religions and faiths back home were talking about? New life on a different planet? It was poetic thought, and one Aurora had made a mental note to write down later.

She couldn't help but feel as though each person she saw had a wonderful story about who they were and why they ended up on Avalon. How could she choose just one?

Jim had said that he saw her and fell in love with her immediately. Would she feel the same way about another? Was Jim her one and only soul mate and she was doomed to live without him?

Just as she asked the question, she found the perfect person. He was an older gentleman, of a mixed race. It was difficult to tell his origin, but he had tanned skin that looked very smooth. He had to have been in his late forties or fifties. Aurora was drawn in by his peaceful composure and aura of wisdom. She couldn't quite justify why he seemed to be wise, but she knew that he had seen so much in his life on earth. Aurora read the computerized tag on the side of his pod.

"Rev. John Prince."

He was a religious man. Aurora never believed in any such faiths, even though she was in awe of all religions. They contained beautiful stories about love and creation, but there were far too many for one faith to be exclusive. She put her faith in science and reason, which could be seen and tested.

Why had she been drawn to such a person? Perhaps he could answer some of her questions. Perhaps he could bring her peace to her chaotic thoughts.

But she didn't know he was religious when she saw him.

 _You're not waking him up._

Now the moral voice was strongest in her head. It reminded her once more why she was looking Rev. John Prince now.

Aurora pulled up his passenger information on his pod. It was far too extensive to read over quickly. She decided to go up to the dining hall and fetch a chair.

Leaving the pods behind, Aurora went back up to the upper floors to find that chair. As she did, she had to pass by Jim's planted tree. Over the course of a year and a half it had grown some more, it's roots pulling apart the floor. Aurora made a mental note to tend to the tree as her next project after she finished convincing herself that she could survive on her own.

 _I have another goal now._

The thought brought her joy, for one of the greatest problems with being marooned as the only live passenger on a ship was finding a purpose. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Jim was her purpose and she was his. That made it so much easier to live.

Now…now she had a tree. The joy had left as quickly as it had come. Tending to a tree seems so insignificant compared to tending to another soul.

Aurora dismissed the thoughts, grabbed a chair, and headed back down to the pods.

She found her new friend, John, and sat beside him and read his biography. What she found impressed her.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Story**

Reverend Jonathan Prince was part of one of the last remaining Christian Churches on Earth. He lived a life full of sacrifice and devotion to that Church, tending to the weak, the sick, the orphaned, and the widowed. He wrote in his biography that he made it a point to live as the early Christians did – giving everything he could to helping God's children.

Everything he did was beyond what the average good-hearted person did. Instead of running charities, he actually went to the places where people were suffering and offered what resources he had to help. He made clothes for people who had none and he cooked for the people who had no food. His Church supported him whole-heartedly because he did the work that they would gladly pay someone else to do. All he ever did was love others, no matter their circumstance.

When it had been announced that new planet capable of sustaining life was found and that it was possible to travel there, Prince was hand selected by the church leaders to go and minister to those who were settling in. Even he was quoted as saying, "I feel called to reach out to that end of the universe, for we are all God's children and I am His hands and feet."

Aurora thought it was all very noble, even if she didn't believe in any type of god. It didn't matter the reason, this man was making a difference in the world and was planning to continue his work, even if that meant he would be the only one of his kind in his new home.

If anyone was going to understand Aurora's dilemma, it would be this man laying before her. Oh, how she yearned to speak with him right then, asking him why, why she was so lonely and how she could overcome it.

But he had work to do. Important work.

If she woke him, so many people would miss out on his loving kindness.

 _I could experience his loving kindness if I wake him._

"I can't do this to him," Aurora voiced to her own thoughts. "He has so many wonderful plans for the future."

 _But of all the people here, he would have the most sympathy for why I'd have to wake him._

"All the more reason to stop myself from doing it. There is someone more deserving of him elsewhere."

 _There will be more religious types over there. What's one less?_

"It's murder."

 _It's survival._


	11. Chapter 11

**The Awakening**

Aurora left before her thoughts could take over once more. She stormed out of there, leaving John Prince to sleep peacefully.

Her plan didn't work. If anything, she was even more tempted to wake this man. If he had died, it would tragic for all those waiting for him on the other side.

At the same time, he was at peace with who he was and where he was going after he died, even if it wasn't true. And he had something Aurora didn't – a God that would bring him comfort if necessary.

She paced her cabin back and forth all night. Her anxiety made her throw things, pull at her hair, and scream into her pillow. After several hours, she went up to the bar to grab the first bottle of liquor she could find. She downed all of it hoping it would quell the invasive thoughts and simply leave her true thoughts behind.

All of it disappeared and she was in a state of catatonia until she passed out on the bar floor.

Aurora awoke mid-afternoon the next day with a painful hangover. She found some pain killers in her room and downed them with as much water as she could drink. It was the only remedy for a hangover that ever relieved some of the pain.

She stood over her bathroom sink, still gulping down water. The excess liquid found its way down her chin and to her shirt from last night, soaking the fabric all down her front.

Aurora got a good glimpse of herself in the mirror: Matted, blonde hair, bloodshot eyes, dark circles, and a look of craze in her expression that would have scared her in her past life.

"I need to wake him," she said simply.

No arguments came from her mind.

With the decision made, Aurora changed her clothes without taking a shower. She had all the time in the world, but for some reason she felt rushed to complete this task. Perhaps it was fear of losing her resolve that pushed her. After all, this was murder…

No time to think of that now.

She sprinted down to the elevator, which did not move fast enough for her liking. When it finally opened to reveal the pods, she took off once more until she found her old pod. There, she collected the manuals and Jim's old tool box. Aurora brought them to John's pod.

Looking upon his peaceful face, Aurora had a moment of hesitation. She was going to change this man's life forever.

Aurora looked away, hoping beyond hope that she could do this without thinking about the consequences.

The manuals seemed to be written in a different language. Jim had been able to follow them, but he was an engineer. He lived and breathed this information. Aurora had dabbled in engineering, especially when having to research the subject for a project, but it was never this extensive.

"I can do this," she said with determination.

It would take some time, but she could follow the manual. Aurora found herself walking back and forth between her and John's pod, comparing the trays on the sides of the pods, housing the circuit boards.

Jim had put the board back into its place on her pod, so if there was a difference, then it would have been subtle. Only an engineer would know what to look for.

For Aurora, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, but not knowing what the needle was, just that something different would be there.

After hours of analysis, comparison, and study, Aurora decided that the manuals were pointing to remove the second circuit board on the tray. Doing so would trick the computer into sensing that it was time to wake the person from hibernation.

Aurora carefully used a set of pliers to grasp the second crystal board from the pod's tray, just as the manual had indicated. As she the tool clamped down on the device, she let out air slowly.

 _No turning back now._

She carefully removed it from the tray.

Standing up as quickly as she could, Aurora watched John and waited for the sequence to start. From what she could remember about her awakening, the pod moved to a different location for processing.

Nothing happened.

Minutes passed, and still nothing.

She never asked Jim how long it took to process. For all she knew, it could be hours before John woke up.

Exhaustion from working all day without sustenance had over-taken her. Despite her feelings, she was desperate to wait for John to wake up.

Just when Aurora was about to sit down to rest, John's pod started beeping. The computer screen and lights on the pod all turned red to indicate a warning or error.

The computer system flashed "SYSTEM FAILURE."

"NO!" Aurora screamed. She had pulled the wrong one.

She fumbled for the tools once more, replacing the circuit board back to the tray. It was no use: the computer continued to flash red.

Suddenly, John woke with a jolt, his eyes wide open.

Aurora could only look on in horror as the man looked around, desperate to find the source of his distress. His eyes finally locked with hers, but no words came from his mouth. Instead, he only gasped and writhed in terrible pain.

They were like that for what seemed like an eternity to Aurora, but really was just a few seconds. Reverend John Prince, eyes still wide, stopped trembling and moved no more.

The computer flashed simple words to indicate what happened.

"PASSENGER DECEASED."


	12. Chapter 12

**The Regret**

Aurora fell to her knees before John's empty corpse.

She was appalled at what she had done. Not only did she end this man's life early, but she had lost her chance at having a companion on this god-forsaken ship. That didn't even matter now; she was truly a killer. When Jim woke her, at least she still had a future with him. But John…

 _He's gone._

Had she'd known this was a possibility, Aurora would have never tried to wake him up. Jim had made it seem so easy…

She was a villain now, and had to live with herself and the weight of what she had done for the rest of her life. Alone.

Aurora wrapped her arms around the pod, as if her regret and sorrow would somehow bring John back to life. Tears from her eyes streamed onto the glass and made their way down the side of the machine.

She stayed until no more tears could fall.

It took all her strength to finally leave John's pod behind. Aurora had left, went straight to her room, and begged sleep to come.

She was awake all night.

Just before dawn, Aurora gave up on her quest for sleep and headed back to the bar to drink her sorrows away. Then, and only then was she able to sleep.

The following months were difficult for Aurora. Thoughts came back about just ending everything. During her jogs, she found herself veering more and more towards the pharmacy for those pills. One day she finally made it through the pharmacy doors. She was able to stop and turn around, but thoughts of John's short life flashed in her mind.

 _You have nothing to live for._

"I…have to take care of the tree…" It was a simple argument, but enough to keep her going.

Not having the will to end her life, nor having the strength to keep living, Aurora found herself praying to any and every god to just end her life. She begged for painless death in her sleep, and later asked for a painful, slow death like she deserved.

No god heard her plea.

Writing no longer sufficed to keep her mind from chaos. Voicing her confusion and grief, even to a sheet of paper, gave them more strength. They were impossible to vanquish.

Jogging was a good distraction. And the tree that Jim had planted…it became her child. She nurtured it and cared for it as a way of making penance for her sin. Logically she knew that caring for a tree did not make up for taking a human life, but she took care of it all the same.

Another year had gone by after John's death, and Aurora still felt heavy regret for what she had done.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Tipping Point**

Aurora lost track of time. All she knew was that she ate, slept, jogged, and took care of that tree. She found herself talking to it most days, confessing her shortcomings, but also justifying that anyone in her position would have done the same.

"Jim woke me up knowing there was a risk?" she found herself asking the tree one day, "right?" She was sitting on the white floor next to it, her knees pulled into her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, like she was a small child confiding in an imaginary friend.

The tree did not respond.

"Maybe he was so sure he knew what he was doing that accidentally killing me was not a possible scenario." Aurora looked intently at the tree. "There was still a risk, though."

The tree still said nothing.

"What do you know?" Aurora said, turning away, "You're just a tree."

 _I need to wake someone else up._

"No, no, no, no…I tried that, and it ended terribly." Aurora stood up and took a few paces forward. "No more attempts. I have the tree to keep me company."

 _There were five boards I could have pulled and I just pulled one. There are 4,997 other passengers aboard this ship. I only need four more._

"NO!" She screamed, now pulling at her hair. "No, that's murder. I'd be serial killer!"

 _Can I really survive talking to a tree for the rest of my life?_

"Maybe not, but I have to try..."

With that, Aurora left the tree and headed for the bar. The alcohol was almost gone. What was meant to serve 5,000 passengers in four months was gone in four plus years of her being awake. Yes, Jim had his fill, but Aurora should have felt shame for how much she had consumed.

She felt none.

The only remorse she had was not forgiving Jim sooner and taking the life of an innocent man. All her other shortcomings were microscopic in comparison.

Aurora started a whole bottle of whiskey, not bothering to grab a glass. She looked out the window into space as she took her first gulps. The void was infinite, ready to be explored by anyone who dared. It had a mysterious beauty about it that writers greater than her would try to put into words. Nothing could capture both the greatness and fear of space.

And yet, here Aurora stood, confined to this ship for the rest of her life, unable to explore the vast depths of space.

After the whiskey was half gone, Aurora finally broke down and confessed the truth to herself and to any supernatural being that would listen.

"I can't live with myself. I can't kill myself. I…need someone else."


	14. Chapter 14

**The Desperation**

Aurora wondered if Jim would be doing this had he killed her on the first round. Would he be planning to put four more people in jeopardy just to find one? Would he give up after her, horrified by the fact that he killed a person for the sake of his own well-being? She didn't know, and a part of her didn't want to know.

She had the manuals sprawled across the floor and the tool box within reach as she gazed upon a group of unsuspecting passengers. Aurora had picked them by chance alone; the reason she grieved for John Prince for so long was because she got to know him before waking him. If she could just imagine that these people weren't...weren't people at all, it would make it easier.

 _Easier to kill them._

Aurora shook her head, trying to dispel the thought from her mind.

Without further hesitation, she started on the first pod. It housed a woman in her late thirties. Aurora picked a row from the lower-class sections, planning to move to the next pod over if this one did not work. The logic was that the lower-class people would not cost the ship much and if these pods were all together, the crew may think that there was a malfunction with the section. She knew the logic was warped, but she was beyond that now. She crossed the line when she found herself premeditating the murder of four individuals.

"I have to make this one count," she said aloud, convincing herself that she had no choice left but to wake up another human being.

She grabbed the pliers and opened the tray to the pod.

After she reviewed the manuals for some time, she determined that it was the third board she had to pull. Aurora grabbed the third circuit board on the tray with the pliers and gave one last glance to the woman sleeping peacefully.

"I'm sorry," she said aloud.

She pulled the board and waited.

It was the same as before: red lights, a sudden gasp from the woman, a look of horror, and then death.

"PASSENGER DECEASED" flashed from the pod's computer.

The lack of remorse for this woman's life scared Aurora, but only for a moment. Her humanity was long gone, and her desperate search for another human being was part of the quest to gain it back.

"Let's try again," she said to no one in particular.

She pulled the first tray on the next pod: Same result.

Aurora pulled the fourth tray on the pod after that: Same result.

"One try left," Aurora told herself. A small part of her wanted to stop. She had now killed four people and was about to kill someone else. But the yearning for human companionship took over. She needed this last one to work.

She came upon the pod and inside slept a man who resembled Jim. He was tall and muscular. Aurora found him attractive. She took it as a good sign.

"This has to work," she said as she opened the tray. She carefully placed the pliers on the fifth and final board and pulled it out.

Aurora's heart sank as the pod lit up with red.

She didn't even stay to watch the man die. With a loud 'clank' the pliers hit floor.

Aurora left for the bar to grab a drink.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Epiphany**

Aurora had more inner turmoil after that day than she ever had before in her life. A part of her thought it was necessary to at least try, but now she should stop. Another part egged her to keep on going. She would never reach all 5,000 passengers in her lifetime, so might as well keep trying. Finally, a small part of her was horrified by what she had done. Who had she become? A serial killer who had no remorse for the lives that she had taken?

After she had finished all but a few bottles at the bar, Aurora had passed out. When she awoke the next morning, she didn't bother to get cleaned up or even go back to her room. Instead, she found herself in the dining hall talking to the tree.

"I don't even know who I am anymore," she said to it. "When I left Earth, I was full of adventure, ready to seek out the new world. And then Jim woke me up, and he showed me so much of myself that I didn't even know. And now he's gone…"

The tree said nothing.

"I can't be here by myself. I need companionship. Anyone could understand that."

She found her mind wandering to Gus, wondering what he would think of her actions. As far as she could tell, he was a good man. Would he understand her motives? Would he have done the same thing, since he was part of a crew and was held to a different standard?

"That's it!" Aurora said to the tree. "I have something that Jim didn't. I have access to the crew! They _must_ be easier to wake up."

Without further thought or discussion, Aurora leapt up and ran straight for the crew deck where Gus had been sleeping several years prior.

The doors had never closed since they had gone there the few years ago when the ship was in peril. Scorch marks were a décor of the door frame from when Jim had tried to force his way in. Aurora ran over to the first pod she saw. It was the Executive Officer, Martin Craig. He was sleeping peacefully, unaware of the horrors committed on the ship.

Aurora found the pod's computer and searched everything and anything for a sequence to wake him up. Finally, she came across the right command to start the process. All she needed was an identification code.

She remembered Gus's code from before, and she prided herself now on remembering it once more.

Aurora gave the code to the computer and gleefully awaited her new best friend.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Deception**

Martin Craig awoke slowly and with some aches and pains. It took him several minutes to remember what was happening. He was given and assignment on board the ship…the big ship…the Avalon, traveling to Homestead II. It was a 120-year journey.

 _Have I really been out that long?_

Craig laughed to himself as he opened his eyes. The lights were much too bright and painful. He closed them once more and then cracked them open enough to get used to the florescent bulbs. His pod opened when it sensed that he was aware, and he sat up. The computer told him to wait as it gave him a medical sweep. Craig was more than happy to comply.

He was given his final injections and his IVs were removed by robotic arms that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Craig finally had full feeling in his extremities and was excited to swing his legs over the side of the pod to stand up.

"Hello."

Craig hadn't noticed the observer in the room, standing about ten feet back. She looked horrible – she had mangled hair and dark circles under her eyes. It was like a drunkard had somehow made her way upon the ship. Craig knew he wouldn't have been the first crew member awake, but he didn't recognize her at all.

"Who are you?" he asked her, standing up. His legs were weaker than expected so he had to steady himself against the wall.

"I'm one of the passengers," she said. "Aurora Lane."

"The writer?" Craig asked her.

"Yes," she said. He found it strange that she was so gleeful.

"Regardless of your social status, you're still just a passenger here. This area is restricted." When he had finished his statement, he remembered more about his instructions upon the ship. "You shouldn't even be awake anyway," he added, "The crew is supposed to wake up first."

"There's a story behind that," she said.

Craig was finally able to steady himself and push off the wall. He looked around the room and saw that his comrades were still in their pods, asleep.

"What story is that?" Craig said, now demanding. "You better explain what is going on here."

Aurora launched into the long story about how James Preston, the mechanic, woke up long before it was time. She left out the part where he woke her, simply stating that she woke up too. About a year after that, Gus Mancuso woke up and it was all because of a meteor storm that almost took out the whole ship. The three of them worked together to neutralize the threat, but Jim and Gus had died in the process. She was the only survivor.

"Why am I awake now?" Craig said after Aurora had finished.

"I don't know," the woman said, "It could be a residual effect from the storm."

Craig couldn't help but feel like she was hiding something.

"How did you know to find me?" he asked, suspicious.

"This is the route I take when I take my morning jogs," she said quickly, "As you can see, I wasn't in the mood for jogging, but I still needed to at least walk off this hangover. I was walking by the room when I heard the pod start to beep. I was concerned so I came running."

"Uh-huh," Craig said, still weary of her. "And how much time now until we reach Homestead II?"

"I don't know," Aurora said honestly. "I stopped counting."

Craig turned and walked towards one of the computers in the middle of the room. He typed in his inquiry and the computer revealed that they still had 84 years more to go.

"So you've been awake for five years?" he asked her.

"Yes," she responded. "It's been kind of lonely the past three of them."

"No kidding," Craig said. "Well, I thank you for the information. If you don't mind, I'm going to do a diagnostic analysis of the ship and find out exactly why I woke up early. I don't want this to happen to the other crew or passengers." He felt sorry for the girl, but he wasn't going to talk to her anymore until her story checked out. It was his duty to put the safety of the other passengers first.

"Would you like some help?" Aurora asked.

"That won't be necessary," Craig said with a smirk. "You look like you need some rest anyway."

Aurora continued to protest, but the Executive Officer practically pushed her out the door.

He had to find some more answers.


	17. Chapter 17

**The Revelation**

Aurora was kicking herself as she made her way back down to the passenger pods. How could she be so stupid? Waking up a crew member without a plan? Was she that desperate for human contact?

Yes, she was desperate enough to kill five people in the process.

Aurora's only thoughts were on cleaning up her mess before Craig could find it. She sprinted towards the elevator, a contraption that was still much too slow. She was out the doors before they were fully open, sprinting towards the manuals and the tool box. She quickly gathered them up in her arms.

Before Aurora could walk away, she noticed she had left the trays on all the pods open. She cursed at herself, dropped the books and the tools, and made her way to each individual pod, making sure the circuit boards were replaced and the trays were sealed. Only a close inspection would reveal that they had been removed.

How long could she keep Martin Craig in the dark?

She finally finished and grabbed her pile once more as she headed back towards the elevator. When she was ten feet away, the doors opened. Inside the car stood Craig, a gun pointed at her.

Aurora dropped her cargo once more and raised her arms without hesitation.

"You know, your story didn't sit right with me," he said right away, stepping off the elevator.

"What do you mean?" Aurora asked, trying to look innocent. For every step forward that Craig took, she took one step back.

"No one ever wakes up on these journeys. I mean, who am I to say that a meteor shower can't mess that up? But still, it would be rare. One person waking up would be an anomaly. But three?" Craig started to circle her.

"I told you the truth," Aurora said, trying to sound appalled that he didn't believe her.

"Maybe, but what did you leave out?" Craig said. He pointed his gun down at the books and the tool box and then back at her. "What do you have there?"

"They were Jim's," Aurora said. "We had left them down here and I wanted to clean them up for you. I forgot about them."

"Right…" Craig said. "That looks like the manuals for the pods. Which is funny, 'cause after you left I watched your movements on camera and tracked you here. Out of curiosity, I looked up how many pods had been disturbed, and there were five more pods listed than what your story would account for."

"FINE!" Aurora screamed. Craig was surprised by the outburst and jumped back. "I killed them! I tried to wake them up, but I didn't know how! They all died." She fell to her knees and started to weep. "I…killed…them…"

Having to defend herself to another human being had brought Aurora back to her original self. She was mortified at what she had done. Had loneliness really driven her this mad?

"Jim woke me up," she said to the Officer, who looked as if he was in shock. "His pod opened first…I didn't lie about that. But he saw me, fell in love, and woke me up. I didn't find out until later, and I gave him hell for it." Aurora looked directly at Craig, "He had killed me! Jim murdered me first!" She sobbed at the statement, remembering her angst upon realizing what Jim had done. "I…I…" she stammered, "I forgave him, but it was too late. He was already gone. And I had nobody."

Without a word, Craig circled around her and walked down the rows of pods until he found the five that she had tampered with. A grimace upon his face revealed that he was disgusted by her actions. He came sprinting back towards her and held the gun at her once more. The barrel was mere inches from her face.

"You're a serial killer. You really think your emotional well-being is more valuable than a person's life? Than six lives? Do you realize that you've killed me as well?!"

"I just wanted someone else," she said between sobs. "I didn't mean to hurt them! I didn't mean to hurt you!" She looked at Craig now, angry that he gave her no empathy. "I dare you to try and survive on your own on this ship!"

Before Craig could respond, Aurora grabbed his gun-wielding hand, placing her finger over his trigger finger and pulled.

Aurora Lane was no more.


	18. Chapter 18

**The Clean-Up**

Martin Craig was breathing heavily, but was frozen to that spot. He wasn't sure what to do with himself. Here he stood, over the body of a desperate psychopath, her blood had sprayed in all different directions, making Craig think about a morbid Pollock painting. The realization that he had to explain the death of eight people came over him, making his heart beat faster.

When he finally got control of his fear, he decided the best thing to do was look into this crazy woman's story and find out the truth. She had changed it between the time when he woke up and his confrontation of her, he wasn't sure what was true. He spent the next few weeks going through the ship and looking for evidence. Once he found that she was mostly telling the truth, he wrote a report with the whole incident and saved it to the ship's computer. He wanted to make sure someone knew what really happened.

Craig also had to clean up the mess. He disposed of the dead bodies and sent them out into space. The pods no longer recognized them as living, so they would not preserve their bodies. The Reverend had been dead for a while, which was evident when Craig opened the pod. An overwhelming stench of rot overtook his nostrils, and the Executive Officer had to vomit.

He made a point to clean up the messes left by the passengers in the luxury suite, the bar, and finally the tree in the dining hall. Craig found the axe out of James Preston's tool box and swung at the plant until it fell.

When Martin Craig was satisfied that the ship was presentable once again, he went to the infirmary and found the medical pod in the center of the room. He set the computer to make him sleep another 84 years. He would have a lot of explaining to do to his superior officers, but for now, he could rest.

 **Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who read this entire work. I watched the movie and found that I was angry that it ended so easily. Aurora forgave Jim, but I never got the sense that she understood why he did what he did. I know this is much more depressing than the actual movie, but I wanted something with more impact. Let me know what you think. Thanks again.


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